Kakashi stood in front of Hajime, who looked completely different from the last time I saw him. He grew his hair out and got way taller. He used to be the shortest guy in our class and he was always so stoic.

He smirked at Kakashi.

"Try not to cry when I embarrass you, Hatake," Hajime smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Looks like he got arrogant," I shook my head. "His ego is even bigger than his height,"

Rin giggled at my insult.

Kakashi didn't even say anything to him and just ignored him, waiting until Inoichi gives the cue to start. This seemed to have irritated Hajime since he was trying to get a rise out of Kakashi.

"Start!"

Hajime was the first to attack and he used a lightning release that clasped around Kakashi's body like chakra strings. I recognized this as the jolt clamp.

"Oh no..." Rin said with worry.

"Oh come on, Kakashi didn't even get a chance to attack him!" Obito exclaimed.

Hajime weaved another hand sign and added something onto the jolt clamp. Kakashi gasped, but then Hajime gasped right after. Kakashi tricked him and turned into a log, meaning that he had used a substitution before Hajime even made the first attack.

How was he that quick?

"Smart move," I remark.

Hajime was knocked to the ground and Kakashi appeared behind him. Hajime tried to use hand-to-hand combat, but Kakashi was able to fend him off flawlessly. Hajime threw taunts and insults at Kakashi, getting vexed when Kakashi didn't respond to it each time.

He attempted to attack Kakashi with another lightning release, but that failed. He continued using ninja tools and even tried to use his physical strength. Kakashi was way smarter than him when it came to fighting him head on.

 Hajime tried to use another jutsu on him, but didn't realize that he was fighting a clone the entire time. That's when Kakashi came up behind him with his lightning chakra concentrated in one hand. 

He was right about it sounding like a thousand birds chirping.

He hit Hajime with his new jutsu and Hajime fell to the ground.

"What the hell?!" Hajime gasped. "How did you do that?"

"You were too focused on trying to land a hit on me rather than trying to find a weakness and use that against me. You tired yourself out and left yourself open," Kakashi crossed his arms. "You could've very well landed a hit on me if you didn't let your ego get to your head,"

I was surprised to see Kakashi like this. I've only seen him act this way a few times.

I was wrong about Hajime improving. In fact, he got worse. It looks like he got way too arrogant over the years so now he doesn't think clearly when he handles an opponent.

Hajime glared at him. "Bastard."

He quickly stood up, attempting to make one last hit on Kakashi. His accuracy was way off and he stumbled from being hit with Kakashi's new jutsu. Kakashi continued to stare at him calmly and Inoichi stepped up.

"Kakashi Hatake of the Leaf wins!"

The crowd roared and applauded.

"Way to go Kakashi!" Rin smiled.

"That's my rival!" Guy shouted.

I cheered for Kakashi and Obito just looked at me, staying quiet.

I looked over at him and he looked away quickly, his cheeks tinging pink.

"In case you're next, please be careful with Guy," I said.

Obito turned his head to look at me. "No worries, I can kick his butt easily!"

I could tell he was hiding his worry. Seeing Kakashi succeed with ease probably worried him. Kakahsi walked back up here and Rin was asking if he needed any ointment to heal a few small scratches.

Before I could say something, Inoichi's words made my blood run cold.

"Now for the second match," he said. "Hana Uzumaki of The Leaf and Nozomi Akamatsu of the Mist!"

The crowd got excited again since they were looking forward to seeing me fight.

All three of my teammates looked at me. I was excited to fight, but now I was starting to feel drained about this. I could feel her silver gaze, glaring daggers into me. I walked downstairs to the field and heard her footsteps behind me.

She was oddly quiet.

We both stepped on opposite sides. Her silver eyes locked into my green ones and she gave me a look of hate.

"You're not going to win, Uzumaki. I'll make sure the Yellow Flash's niece humiliates herself in front of everyone,"

I didn't know how to respond to her. The words just wouldn't form.

She scoffed. "As soon as you realize that I'm serious, you clam up,"

I still said nothing. Inoichi gave us our cue to start and neither of us moved a muscle. 

We both were forming strategies in our heads.

I knew Minato and Kushina were watching. I knew Jiraiya was probably there too.

Nozomi made the first move and she ran at me, throwing shurikens in my direction that were dripping with poison. I quickly dodged them and the shurikens hit some plants, making them shrivel. I mentally cringed at the thought of what those shurikens could've done to me.

"I guess you're scared of me and you should be, considering I'm stronger than you," Nozomi snickered.

"You talk too much," I finally spoke and weaved a sign for a lightning release that I learned from Minato.

A ball of electricity formed in my hands and I threw it, aiming at her. 

She gasped with shock when the ball of electricity gave her a shock and she gave me a look of surprise.

"So, you do know something other than water style,"

"I do,"

I weaved another sign for the jolt clamp and strings of electricity latched onto her left arm and right leg. I temporarily paralyzed them and she glared at me when she realized that everything was uneven now.

She attempted to walk forward to attack, but she couldn't move as she planned. She limped and staggered, using her right arm to throw more poison-laced ninja tools at me. I dodged them swiftly.

I weaved a sign for the water shuriken technique and threw them at her. Some of them managed to hit her arm, causing a few nicks. So far, I was doing pretty well. I was trying to rile her up and get her to attack me full on so she could tire herself out. Watching Kakashi's fight gave me that idea.

Nozomi regained control of her limbs again and held the palm of her hand, flames forming onto both sides. She used both hands to shape them into a spear, then ran at me with this spear trying to impale me every time she swung it.

I got a few minor burns here and there, but I managed to dodge them. An idea came to mind when I dodged her spear.

I did the same thing she did, but water was forming into my hands instead. I made the same motion as she did and formed a water sword. Before I could move, her flaming spear swung dangerously close to my face and I backed up quickly. I moved the water sword and her spear made contact with it.

A sizzling sound was heard as the water tried to douse the spear. Her chakra levels had to have been high if she was able to sustain the spear for this long. I put more strength into my sword, trying to cut through the spear. I pushed a little more and was able to cut through.

The sword broke the spear in half, making it burn to ashes in the ground. This caused her to gain a small cut on her cheek and finally, the sword reverted back into water.

"Hm, looks like you aren't as stupid as I thought," she remarked. "I guess I'm going to have to wait a bit to finally take you down,"

I rolled my eyes. "Don't tell me you're getting cocky already. You know, they do say that if you rush into things, you're bound to fail,"

She scoffed and made hand signs. "I was nice enough to not use this on you, but now it's different,"

"Incinerating hail!"

I attempted to use a water release to counter this, but her speed had improved. Small fireballs formed around me and poured down like rain. I bit my lip harshly, trying not to scream out, but it was hard. These flames were the size of tennis balls and they burned my skin.

I gave in and yelled out. I couldn't move because of how much pain I was in from my skin burning.

I collapsed to the ground and I could feel that my pride was starting to falter again.

The flames stopped and I heard her snicker. 

I lied on the ground, panting. I could vaguely see bushy white hair sitting next to Minato. I realized that it was Jiraiya. He was going to see me fail.

"Nozomi Akamatsu-"

I cut off Inoichi by slowly standing up.

I couldn't let Jiraiya, Uncle Minato, and Aunt Kushina see me fail. I couldn't just let this crowd see me fail, knowing they wanted a promising fight.

Nozomi looked surprised. 

My skin was burnt, but that was the least of my concerns right now.

"You just don't learn when to give up, Hana. I was actually about to spare you there, but you're being difficult" Nozomi spat.

I looked back at her.

"Bite me,"

She didn't like my snarkiness. 

She weaved another sign, making her fists turn into flames. She tried to punch me and her right fist missed, but the left one managed to hit me on the side. 

I grunted in pain because of how this burnt. Suddenly, I felt something behind me as she dispersed into flames. 

"A clone!" I exclaimed in realization.

Two arms grabbed me and pulled me against them. Her body temperature started to rise and the burns started to feel worse.

I could see Obito, Rin, Kakashi, Guy, and Naomi all staring me with worry.

"Come on Hana! You can beat her!" Obito called out.

"You can do it, Hana!" Rin shouted with him.

She pulled a kunai out again and held it in front of me. She aimed it towards my neck, but I moved my left arm and grabbed her wrist. I was late by five seconds. The kunai nicked the skin on my neck slightly, but I managed to grab her wrist in time before she cut me deeper.

She let go and started to snicker.

I was confused, but then it hit me.

"You little-"

She gave me a smug smirk. "That poison will take exactly twenty minutes to take effect on your body. Have fun with that."

I looked around to find a body of water and found a small pond in the distance. I got an idea in my head and when she wasn't paying attention, I made a clone and decided to use the puddle transportation that I learned how to use after training.

I had exactly twenty minutes to finish this fight. 

She fell for my idea. She continued to attack the clone while I was behind her in a puddle of water. She used the flaming spear and was baffled when my clone had disseminated into water.

I came out of the puddle quickly and wrapped water chains around her ankles, then pulled her down to the ground. She grunted and glared at me when she realized that I had just outsmarted her.

"Water style, water fang bullet!"

Spikes fell around her, crushing into her. She bit her lip to keep from yelling out and I saw she used her hands to push herself up and attempted to weave a sign to counter my attack. I was quicker though.

I held my hand out, focusing a swirling ball of chakra into the palm of my hand.

"Rasengan!"

The swirling ball of chakra ground into her, making her fall to the ground. 

I made another sign for a lightning release. 

I used my electric overdose technique, which would channel a bunch of electricity into her body and double her weight so she can't move.

Nozomi couldn't keep the fight going and Inoichi stepped in.

"Hana Uzumaki of the Leaf wins!" Inoichi exclaimed.

The crowd roared again and applauded.

I couldn't focus on the cheers I got through, I was too busy staring Nozomi down.

I was focused on that look of hate she gave me. I had just humiliated her in front of her comrades. 

I ignored the stinging sensation I felt as I walked up the stairs to stand with my team. I now had three minutes until this poison would take effect on me.